Many lawmakers have ideas about to break the impasse over the federal debt ceiling, but one senator said today that a resolution has to start with three people: President Obama and the two Republican leaders in Congress.
“The only people who can cut a deal, at least initially, are the president, (House) Speaker (John) Boehner and Mitch McConnell, our Republican leader in the Senate,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., on Fox News Sunday.
Even then, Cornyn added, “it’s got to pass the House of Representatives, and then it has to get at least 60 votes in the Senate. And we’re running out of time.”
The Treasury Department has said that if Congress doesn’t raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug. 2, the government will not be able to pay its debts and risks severe economic problems via a default.
Congressional Republicans, including those who run the U.S. House, say they won’t support a debt ceiling increase without major spending cuts; they also oppose any tax increases as part of a debt ceiling deal.
Obama and the Democrats say the government needs more revenue as well as budget cuts to reduce its massive debt, and they have proposed eliminating tax breaks for wealthy Americans.
Cornyn said he is concerned that Obama and Democrats may try to spring a last minute proposal on the Republicans, right before Aug. 2. In that case, he said, “nobody is going to have time to read it or consider the implications of it and it’s going to say you have to pass it or the economy is going down the tubes. That’s just irresponsible.”
The Texas Republican also rejected the notion that the Constitution may give Obama the power to authorize debt payments even after the Aug. 2 date, debt ceiling or no debt ceiling.
“That’s crazy talk,” Cornyn said. “It’s not acceptable for Congress and the president not to do their job and to say somehow the president has the authority then to basically do this by himself. We ought to sit down and work together.”
